Her soft eyes filled with tears and raised tenderly to his, were expressive of so much sympathy with his grief, and so much confidence in his affection, that yielding to their mute intreaty, he let his head sink again upon her bosom, where he wept unreservedly for some time: Aziek was silent also; but she wept with him, and every sigh that heaved his manly heart, was marked by a yet fonder pressure of her encircling arms. CHAP. VII. Relieved by this indulgence of a natural sensibility, Sebastian raised himself from the neck of his wife with a serener countenance, and bade Gaspar conduct him to the viceroy’s: they went out together. As they passed through the streets, silently taking that complacent repose of the soul which follows tumultuous joy, Gaspar’s eyes remained still fixed on his sovereign’s face, with an expression of affectionate pleasure that seemed incapable of being sated:--his heart indeed overflowed with happiness. Sebastian was conducted to a private apartment in the house of De Castro, at the entrance of which Gaspar left him to return and guard Kara Aziek: Don Emanuel was standing alone; he came hastily forward, fastened the door, and fell at his master’s feet. The King’s emotion confused his sight, but he raised De Castro and embraced him warmly; a long silence prevailed between them: the same recollections, the same troubled anticipations of the future, were in the minds of each: their meeting was less joyous than that with Gaspar, because their more reflective characters acted on each other and roused serious thoughts, but it was equally affectionate. “When I first saw thee, De Castro!” said his sovereign, “could I have foreseen this day, how would my frantic spirit have been appaled and checked in its unjust”----Don Emanuel’s looks interrupted him; too respectful for other interruption he only averted his head, and put the King’s hand to his lips with the air of one that beseeches: Sebastian gratefully eyed him. “Generous De Castro!” he exclaimed, “vainly would you have me banish from my mind those events which your figure so forcibly recalls.--I cannot forget--I cannot forget!” he repeated, deeply sighing and sinking into a reverie. Every scene in which De Castro had been an actor, was now brought back with such frightful closeness to him, that regret and compunction grew into absolute agony; the remembrances of Antonio and of Gonsalva were so contradictory, so made up of the amiable and the hateful, that they increased the anguish of Sebastian by increasing his incertitude: he sought to end it, by suddenly inquiring of De Castro whether he had known the guilt of Donna Gonsalva ere their departure for Africa.